The National Museum of Australia (NMA) is sending six Indigenous museum and heritage officers to the United Kingdom, as part of its Encounters Fellowship Program for 2019.
The recipients are from Western Australia, mainland Queensland, NSW, the Torres Strait Islands and the ACT and include historians, curators, cultural heritage practitioners, artists and program managers.
Director of the Museum, Mathew Trinca said the program had enduring benefits for the institutions and individuals involved and the manager of the Encounters Fellowship Program, Carly Davenport Acker said one of its goals was to assist the selected participants with skills to drive their project.
“The program supports fellows to research, design and develop a project plan that reinvigorates culture and cultural practice in their area of interest and within their own community,” Ms Davenport Acker said.
She said the recipients’ journey would begin in August with a residency at the National Museum along with placements and cultural study tours at Canberra institutions such as the National Library of Australia and Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
“They will later travel to the United Kingdom to complete placements at institutions including the British Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich and the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts,” Ms Davenport Acker said.
“The fellows will receive mentoring, learn new skills and build networks in the cultural institutions sector.”
The recipients are Naomi Appleby, Kyra Edwards and Sherika Nulgit from WA; Kyra Kum-Sing from NSW; Harold Ludwick, Queensland and John Morseu, ACT.
